LESSON FROM MAJOR NIDAL MALIK HASAN, CHO SEUNG-HUI, AND JOHN ALLEN MUHAMMAD TO MS-13 HIT MEN AND BOSTON TERROR CELL: IT’S A POOR WORKMAN THAT BLAMES HIS TOOLS

Virginia Tech Shooter Cho Seung-Hui, Like Major Nidal Malik Hasan at Ft. Hood, Used a Killing Tool Widely and Easily Available on the U.S. Civilian Market to Decimate Virginia Tech Campus -- The High-Capacity Semi-Automatic Pistol

Fairly Civil‘s last post on the alleged plot by Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) leaders in El Salvador to assassinate an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent (“John Doe”) in Queens, New York, brought a skeptical response from some law enforcement quarters. Here is the core of the post, which includes excerpts from an affidivait accompanying a request for an arrest warrant:

According to an affidavit filed in support of an arrest warrant, an MS-13 member specifically tasked to kill the ICE agent described the plot to federal agents. The gangsters were looking for an AK-47 or M-16 assault rifle to do the job.

The post also referred to a similar alleged MS-13 plot to kill LAPD gang detective Frank Flores, described in “The Plot to Whack a Cop,” which can be found here.

But retired Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department gang Sergeant Richard Valdemar questions in a private communication to the author whether these two incidents show a pattern, much less a shift, in MS-13’s abilities and intent regarding attacks on law enforcement officers:

Funny how in the many years (1993-2004) working with the FBI Task Force with numerous agents and agencies on the MS they would now fix on one LAPD Officer Flores in Los Angeles and one “John Doe” the ICE man in New York, and they can’t seem to find a AR-15 or AK-47 to do the dastardly deed. I think there have been a lot more effective cases and cops doing serious damage to the gang over the years than these two.

More likely …an informant, or couple of informants, got twisted in Los Angeles and New York, and gave up their own clique homeboys with information that they knew the cops would value (“they plan to kill a cop”). This kind of talk goes on a lot in the gang world, but the gang members don’t always go beyond the talking stage. And you, who has studied the trafficking in weapons associated with gangs (transnational gangs especially), can’t seriously buy the …”we can’t find an assault rifle to use” excuse.

Be that as it may, the cases raise an interesting question. What kind of gangster or would-be terrorist can’t find the tools to do the job in the United States?

The gangsters in the ICE case allegedly were having problems finding their weapons of choice, i.e. a “fully automatic” M-16 or AK clone. This echoed the case of would-be terrorists in Boston, posted here, who gave up a plot to shoot up shopping centers because they also could not obtain machine guns:

Fortunately, however, these jihadists thought they need machine guns, i.e., fully automatic weapons — hold the trigger down and the gun will fire until ammo is exhausted – to do the job. They gave up when they found out they could not obtain machine guns. However, knowledgeable experts understand that controlled fire from semiautomatic weapons — pull the trigger for each round — is at least as lethal and often more lethal than machine gun fire.

One might conclude that both of these cases simply reflect fortuitous ignorance on the part of would-be plotters. Knowledge of firearms is not — as too many voices active in public fora apparently assume — easily received wisdom. There is a stunning array of gun and ammunition types, with diverse capabilities, pros and cons, easily and widely available on the U.S. civilian gun market — not to mention the widespread criminal traffic in guns. Any terrorist or gangster who complains about not being able to find the right tool for the job at hand is either a pea-brain or a poseur. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But how long can we count on stupidity?

On the other hand, three successful mass shooters demonstrated that with firearms easily obtainable on the U.S. civilian market, a little bit of knowledge, premeditation, criminal intent, mental imbalance, and/or jihadist inspiration can be easily transformed into mass blood and carnage on … one wants to say “soft targets,” but how does one classify a U.S. Army fort?

Major Hasan's Pick for Soldier-Killing Machine -- FN's FiveseveN -- is Known in Mexico as the Matapolicia, or "Cop-Killer."

FN Herstal’s FiveseveN (cute name, eh?) semiautomatic pistol fires a small caliber round at very high velocity. It is plain and simply a “vest-buster.” The proprietary round-handgun combination is one of the most popular firearms smuggled by firearms traffickers into Mexico, where it is known as the matapolicia, or “cop killer.”

FN originally created the 5.7X28mm cartridge as the ammunition for the P-90 submachine gun. The P-90 SMG was designed at the invitation of NATO and in response to military needs for a weapon to be used by “troops who needed both hands for other tasks, such as officers, NCOs and technical troops,” and that would be effective against the body armor that has become standard on the battlefield.

In the mid-1990s FNH set out to design a handgun to accompany the P90 SMG. This would not have been an issue if FN had stuck to its original profession that it would restrict the sale of its new armor-piercing ammunition and pistol.

The company clearly recognized the dangerous genie it was releasing. For example, a spokesman for the company told the Sunday Times in 1996 that the pistol was “too potent” for normal police duties and was designed for anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations. The NRA’s American Rifleman claimed in 1999 that: “Law enforcement and military markets are the target groups of FN’s new FiveseveN pistol,” and told its readers, “Don’t expect to see this cartridge sold over the counter in the United States. In this incarnation, it is strictly a law enforcement or military round.” In 2000, American Handgunner magazine assured the public, “For reasons that will become obvious, neither the gun nor the ammunition will ever be sold to civilians or even to individual officers.”

High Capacity of the Fiveseven Adds to Its Mass Killing Power

In fact, however, the gun is being freely sold to civilians today, along with clearly problematic ammunition, through a variety of channels. What changed was precisely nothing.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan most likely gave some serious thought to his choice of weapons. With its high capacity magazine, extremely high velocity round, and cop-killing notoriety in Mexico, the FN FiveseveN was quite demonstrably an effective choice.

The reasons that American Handgunner referred to in 2000 became “obvious” last Thursday as Hasan efficiently murdered soldiers at Fort Hood in cold blood.

Beltway Snipers Chose Bushmaster AR -15 Clone

John Allen Muhammad was the senior member of the infamous Beltway sniper duo. His minor sidekick, Lee Boyd Malvo, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the shootings, which took place over three weeks in October 2002 in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Ten people were killed and three others critically injured, as well as three other crime-related deaths attributed to the pair in Louisiana and Alabama.

2002 Washington Beltway Snipers Used a Bushmaster AR-15 Clone Like This Rifle

Muhammad, a veteran of the Persian Gulf war, picked a type of firearm with which he was undoubtedly familiar — a Bushmaster AR-15 type clone of the military’s M-16 assault rifle. Bushmaster made its mark and fortune by cranking out AR-15 clones that beat the impossibly porous 1994 Semiautomatic Assault Weapons “Ban.”

AR-15 rifles of this type are as common in America as weed-whackers in spring at a suburban hardware store. Here’s the point for slow-readers in this context: Any gangster or would-be terrorist who can’t get his hands on one of these guns — whether you call it a “semiautomatic assault rifle” or a “thunder-stick” — or one of the the AK clones that have been dumped in the country latterly by Eastern European manufacturers and U.S. import-whores is simply in the wrong game.

Cho’s Choice — Ex-Lockmaker Gaston Glock’s High Capacity Model 19

Virginia Tech shooter Cho chose as his lead weapon the Glock Model 19, perhaps the archetype of the modern high-capacity semiautomatic pistol. Easy to shoot, quick to reload, and demanding neither skill nor experience when shooting down unsuspecting innocents, the Glock Model 19 is also a favorite of gangsters and assorted thugs from Vancouver to the Yucatan.

Cho's Choice for Mass Murder -- Glock Model 19

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Considering that your article displays a pretty good knowledge about the FN Five-seveN, I have to assume that you are being intentionally misleading.

The proprietary round-handgun combination is one of the most popular firearms smuggled by firearms traffickers into Mexico, where it is known as the matapolicia, or “cop killer.”

..

In the mid-1990s FNH set out to design a handgun to accompany the P90 SMG. This would not have been an issue if FN had stuck to its original profession that it would restrict the sale of its new armor-piercing ammunition and pistol.

…

The NRA’s American Rifleman claimed in 1999 that: “Law enforcement and military markets are the target groups of FN’s new FiveseveN pistol,” and told its readers, “Don’t expect to see this cartridge sold over the counter in the United States. In this incarnation, it is strictly a law enforcement or military round.” [emphasis added].

The fact that you mix and match quotes to create the desired impression, while failing to acknowledge the whole truth tells me that your subterfuge is intentional.

There is no such thing as an “armor piercing” pistol. There is only “armor piercing” ammunition. There is a flavor of ammunition made for the FN Five-seveN that is capable of piercing soft body armor, but it is NOT authorized for sale to civilians in the US. The FN Five-seveN, with the non-armor piercing ammunition approved for sale by the ATF, is NOT armor piercing and, as a result of it’s diminutive caliber, delivers less energy to the target than many other handgun chamberings.

There is a very strong case that Hasan’s choice of firearm actually resulted in fewer deaths than would have occurred had he used a more potent weapon.

Okay, studiously miss the point! Yes, the ammunition is the armor-piercing component, but the handgun is the delivery mechanism. It is truly a purpose-designed weapons system. The pistol was designed in tandem with the round for use by counter-terror teams especially. Without the pistol you could maybe throw the round at people? Also, you have you ballistics wrong: remember high school physics? E=MC2 (C=velocity and it is squared.) The whole point of the small caliber but very high velocity round is that the velocity (being squared) yields much greater E (energy) than trying to hump up the size of the round…See, e.g., the new S&W high velocity revolver… same principle…Also, ATF has NEVER “banned” the highest grade round: FN just agreed not to import it and the ATF issued a half-assed press release to get off the hook. There is a serious question about whether the highest grade round is indeed “armor-piercing” under existing U.S. LAW even though performance-wise it certainly is armor-piercing..Furthermore, there is a substantial question about whether the lower-grade “civilian” rounds will penetrate the lower level body armor that most cops wear, especially in warm climates. In any case, there is no evidence that anyone killed at Ft. Hood was wearing body armor.

Nope…I understand your point perfectly: demonize a specific firearm based on misleading statements.

But you’re right in that none of the soldiers at Fort Hood were wearing body armor…so what’s your point, specifically?

You’re demonizing a gun based on the capability of a loading that isn’t sold to civilians and which capability had nothing to do with the tragedy that you are attempting to exploit.

As far as your condescending claim that I don’t understand ballistics: The kinetic energy of a particular loading is calculated by the formula E = 1/2M V^2. (Energy = 1/2Mass x Velocity squared) I’m not going to go through the conversion factors to convert the raw formula from Joules of Energy, kilograms of mass and meters per second of velocity to Pounds per square inch, grains of mass and feet per second because the calculations are already done for us. The muzzle energy of specific loadings is a common measure of how powerful the round is and is easily obtainable for virtually any loading imaginable.

About the only loadings that the 5.7x28mm beats out are the loadings generally accepted as the bare minimum for self defense: the .380ACP at about 200 foot pounds and the .38 special at about 235 foot pounds.

And that's not even to mention the fact that, in general, a larger diameter bullet moving slower does more tissue damage than a faster, smaller bullet.

The bottom line is that the type of gun that the perpetrator used here is irrelevant. Your post was intentionally misleading and you and your ilk in the gun control crowd are doing nothing more than exploiting the innocent blood of the victims of this tragedy to further your political agenda.

Also, I said: I’m not going to go through the conversion factors to convert the raw formula from Joules of Energy, kilograms of mass and meters per second of velocity to Pounds per square inch, grains of mass and feet per second because the calculations are already done for us.

I should have said “Foot Pounds of Energy” rather than pounds per square inch.

Tom Diaz is a lawyer, author, journalist, and an accomplished public speaker. Diaz was formerly Democratic Counsel to the Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He worked for then-Rep. Charles E. Schumer. His principal brief covered issues related to terrorism ... Continue reading →